Meet the players

Gary Wilson

Gary began his Ireland career against MCC in 2005 at Bangor and has accumulated over 200 caps since then. As of October 2016 he has played 214 times for Ireland. Most have been as wicket keeper, a position he fills with great competency.

In his 216 matches Gary has scored 4,615 runs with one century, 113 against the Netherlands at Castle Avenue in 2010. A versatile batsman, having batted for Ireland in every position from 1 to 9, he is also an exceptional fielder and offers great versatility for coach John Bracewell.

As mentioned he has kept wicket on just over half his appearances for Ireland. He has taken 198 dismissals, placing him fourth in the all-time list of Ireland wicketkeepers behind Ossie Colhoun, Niall O’Brien and Paul Jackson.

Gary’s domestic cricket has been played with Belfast Harlequins and subsequently Civil Service North, but he has now moved to Derbyshire after an 11 year career with Surrey in County Cricket.

Cricket Ireland President gives us the inside story on a historic day for Irish cricket as John Mooney led Ireland to a superb win over Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup Final and help crown Trent Johnston's career in the best possible way.

Finalists from the last World Twenty 20 Qualifiers, Ireland and Afghanistan were stretched to the limits by their respective opponents before seizing victory on the third day of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013 (WT20Q) on Sunday.

One of the biggest tournaments in the ICC’s Associate and Affiliate Members’ (AM) calendars gets underway tomorrow when the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013 (WT20Q) commences. Sixteen teams will compete for the six available places in the tournament proper, to be staged in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014.

Ireland completed back-to-back victories over traditional rivals Scotland as they romped to a seven wickets win on Sunday, to follow up their thrilling last over conquest of their Celtic cousins on Friday.

England were given a probing work-out ahead of the upcoming five-game series with Australia but had captain Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara, who both struck unbeaten centuries, to thank as they survived a big scare to overcome a resilient Ireland side by six wickets in the RSA Challenge at Malahide.

Never mind the world renowned, international superstar and big-earning players on show during the Friends Life Twenty20 Finals Day, there was only one name on the lips of the sell-out crowd at Edgbaston on Saturday.

On that famous night in Bangalore, after Kevin O’Brien had launched a staggering counter-attack and smashed England’s potent bowling attack to all four corners, the dust began to settle on another remarkable achievement as another glorious chapter was etched into this country’s cricketing history.

Ireland were superb in the field in Sharjah and a gem of an innings from Gary Wilson with a little help from Kevin O'Brien and John Mooney steered Ireland home to send them 4 points clear at the top of the ICC World Cricket League Championship Table.

Max Sorensen and an exciting quartet of youngsters are the major beneficiaries of the 17 contracts announced by Cricket Ireland for the 2013 season, with a further five contracts to be offered in due course.

The Pepsi ICC Development Awards European winners have been announced by ICC Europe for 2012 with winners coming from six different European nations - Cricket Ireland won one award thanks to Gary Wilson & William Porterfield's Big Bike Ride which won the Spirit of Cricket award.

Irish Cricket's Big Bike Ride has been completed with Gary Wilson and William Porterfield arriving into Belfast City Square at 4.45pm on Saturday, having conquered the marathon journey that saw them travel 380 miles in just 5 days.

Gary and William took the second day of their Big Bike Ride in stride as they completed the 70 miles from Kilkenny to Dublin with aplomb and they were helped along the way by some guests and team-mates.

Wilson, 26, has signed a new one year deal until the end of 2013. The right hander made a vital contribution in helping Surrey stay in the First Division of the LV=County Championship with fifties in both innings against Nottinghamshire at the Kia Oval.

Video Highlights of Ireland's seven wicket loss to Australia in the opening match of Group B of the ICC World Twenty 20 on Wednesday in Colombo. Ireland must now re-group ahead of their crucial match against the West Indies on Monday at 3pm Irish time.

Throughout the ICC World Twenty 20, we have a ‘Tour Diary’ that will feature a different member of the Irish squad each day. Today, Gary Wilson tells us about his hopes for the tournament and an extra hot curry!